University Admissions 2025: Consider Using Certificates or Taking Foreign Language Exams

In the 2025 high school graduation exam, foreign languages are no longer a compulsory subject, so candidates can choose to take the exam or use certificates to be exempted from the foreign language exam. This decision of TS not only affects the results of high school graduation recognition but also affects university admission.

- Ảnh 1. — Candidates take IELTS practice tests with foreign experts. This year, the Ministry of Education and Training has new regulations on foreign language certificates related to high school graduation exams and university admissions.

Candidates must decide to choose one of the two options.

In this year’s high school graduation exam, 12th graders will take math, literature, and two subjects they have studied in 12th grade: physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, economic and legal education, information technology, industrial technology, agricultural technology, and foreign languages. Thus, unlike last year, this year foreign languages are not a compulsory subject, and students can choose to take or not take this subject in the graduation exam.

According to this year's high school graduation exam regulations, candidates with foreign language certificates that meet the requirements are still allowed to use them to be exempted from the foreign language exam in the graduation recognition consideration, but cannot be converted into 10 points in the graduation consideration as in previous years.

With this regulation, it can be understood that if a candidate chooses to use a foreign language certificate to exempt from the graduation exam, he/she will not have a score for this subject to consider for university admission.

Therefore, many candidates are facing the dilemma of whether to take the exam or use a foreign language certificate in the high school graduation exam. Sharing with Thanh Nien Newspaper reporter, a student in Ho Chi Minh City said: "In the graduation exam registration instructions, high schools pay special attention to the foreign language subject. According to the school's instructions, students need to make a decision to choose to take the exam or use a foreign language certificate to be exempted from this subject in the high school graduation exam. This makes students very confused about how to ensure optimal benefits in both graduation and university admission."

DECISION FACTORS

In response to this concern, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nhan, Head of Training Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that what candidates need to do is to look at the specific admission information of the school and the major they want to apply for. There are two situations that can happen: if the school accepts to convert the certificate into a foreign language score for admission, candidates can choose to use the converted certificate when considering graduation. However, if the school does not accept to convert the certificate into a foreign language score in the admission combination, candidates must consider registering to take this subject in the graduation exam.

"In the second case, if you do not take the exam, you will not have a foreign language score for admission. Of course, universities have many other admission combinations for you to choose from. However, you need to consider carefully your own abilities and the university's admission plan. Taking the foreign language exam for graduation is not a big barrier for you. In some cases, it is very necessary for university admission," Dr. Trung Nhan added.

Master Cu Xuan Tien, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University), also said: "The conversion from English certificate scores to English subject scores in the combination depends on the school. Therefore, candidates need to pay close attention and carefully review the admission information of the school they want to apply to. For schools that do not convert certificates to foreign language subject scores, candidates taking the exam will have a basis for admission consideration."

CONVERSION SCHOOL, SCHOOL ONLY ADD BONUS POINTS

According to this year's admission regulations, universities can convert foreign language certificates into foreign language subject scores to include in the admission subject group. With this regulation, in addition to using foreign language exam scores in the 2025 high school graduation exam for admission, schools have plans to convert foreign language certificates into scores in the admission group with foreign language subjects. Depending on the viewpoint, schools have different plans for candidates with international foreign language certificates when participating in the admission.

- Ảnh 2. — Candidates participating in the 2025 capacity assessment exam (round 1) of Ho Chi Minh City National University

Within the Ho Chi Minh City National University system, member schools have different ways of using international language certificates. For example, the University of Technology applies the conversion of international English certificates into English subject scores in regular university admissions. IELTS scores will have 3 conversion levels: 5.0 equivalent to 8 points, 5.5 equivalent to 9 points and 6.0 or higher equivalent to 10 points. In addition to IELTS, the school only accepts TOEFL iBT and TOEIC, in which the TOEIC score, for equal conversion, the pair of listening - reading and speaking - writing scores must simultaneously meet the required English certificate score.

Master Hoang Thanh Tu, Deputy Head of the Information and Communication Department of the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that this year the school will convert scores from foreign language certificates to English scores for admission. This conversion table will be announced by the school in the near future.

Meanwhile, some other member schools of Ho Chi Minh City National University are expected not to accept converted scores from foreign language certificates. According to announced information, this year, the University of Information Technology has added a secondary criterion of adding priority points to candidates with international foreign language certificates for admission based on the scores of the Ho Chi Minh City National University's competency assessment exam and the high school graduation exam to the school. In which, the priority points include international foreign language certificates and priority for subjects and regions according to the regulations of Ho Chi Minh City National University and the Ministry of Education and Training. Secondary criteria for calculating priority points based on international foreign language certificates include: IELTS from 6.5 or higher, TOEFL iBT from 65 points, JLPT from N3 level.

Sharing more information, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Luu Thuy Ngan, Vice Principal of the University of Information Technology, said that the school plans to consider the candidates' exam scores and not accept scores converted from foreign language certificates. This is to create fairness for candidates taking the foreign language exam in the high school graduation exam.

Similarly, like previous years, the University of Economics and Law (Ho Chi Minh City National University) plans to use the high school graduation exam score in English for the admission combination that includes this subject. However, in case of having an international English certificate equivalent to IELTS 5.0 or higher, the candidate will be given bonus points to the admission score (this bonus point level is according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, not exceeding 10% of the total maximum score).

In addition to Ho Chi Minh City National University, many schools accept the conversion of scores from foreign language certificates when considering admission, such as: Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, Saigon University, Nha Trang University... However, the equivalent conversion score is not the same in each school. Some schools accept international English certificates equivalent to IELTS 4.0, but most schools use levels 5 - 5.5. To be converted into 10 English points, each school also has different regulations. Notably, some schools accept at a high level, such as: National Economics University accepts IELTS 7.5, Banking Academy IELTS 8.0...

Does it affect the university admission chances of TS?

According to the university admission regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, schools are allowed to convert foreign language certificates into scores for this subject to include in the admission combination, but the weighting must not exceed 50%.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that the incentive points and bonus points for candidates with foreign language certificates must not exceed 10% of the maximum score on the scale (for example, a maximum of 3 points on a scale of 30).

Responding to Thanh Nien Newspaper reporters previously, the leader of the Department of Quality Management of the Ministry of Education and Training said that during the registration process, candidates will only choose to take the foreign language test or be exempted from this test. When choosing to take the foreign language test, the system has been designed in such a way that candidates cannot choose the exemption box anymore. Therefore, candidates will not be able to upload their foreign language certificate to the system as proof of exemption from the test.

Regarding concerns about whether this will affect the candidates' chances of being admitted to university, the leader of the Department of Quality Management affirmed that it will not affect them, because when it comes to university admission, the general admission system will have instructions for candidates to do this. Candidates need to clearly understand the admission methods of the universities they are applying to in order to follow the instructions correctly.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xet-tuyen-dh-2025-can-nhac-dung-chung-chi-hay-tham-gia-thi-mon-ngoai-ngu-185250418225915088.htm